


The Lone Wanderer Doesn’t Work Alone

by Xalorious



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: Alcohol, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, More Kinks To Be Added, Porn With Plot, This is my first time, pwease be gentle
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-12 19:10:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21481390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xalorious/pseuds/Xalorious
Summary: Charon gets dragged along by the eccentric lone wanderer
Relationships: Charon (Fallout)/Female Lone Wanderer, Charon (Fallout)/Lone Wanderer
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

Being the bouncer of the Ninth circle wasn’t the most exciting job in the wastelands, but a contract was a contract. The days would mush together as Charon disassociated, leaning against the wall in a corner closest to the door, all he had to do was look intimidating and throw out the occasional drunk. He looked forward to the days when Ahzrukhal would send him out to do god knows what, those were the days where he could really stretch his exposed and torn muscles. Whether it was hunting down some poor ghoul that stepped on Ahzrukhal’s toes, or simply replenishing the depleted jet stash, it was better than just standing around and listening to the drunken blabbering of miscellaneous customers.

It was just one of those days where Charon was really out of it, eyes looking dead as usual, but this time they hid some extra annoyance, a feeling brewed in his stomach that something bad was about to happen. The slamming of the old bar doors was enough to interrupt his pattern of thought, the doors carried enough age that the sudden shock to their frame would be enough to warrant repair. Charon prayed that Ahzrukhal wouldn’t bark at him to fix the damage done by the reckless customer. A young woman wandered through the entryway, a smoothskin, tall enough to barely reach his shoulders. She wore a loose ponytail atop her head with dark stray hairs framing her round face, a red bandana served as a headband of sorts to keep said stray hairs out of her eyes. Her brown eyes covered by large framed glasses scanned the room and finally found their way to the taller ghoul, immediately b-lining towards him. “Hey big guy!” she exclaimed, standing up straight to try and match his height.

“Talk to Ahzrukhal.” Charon’s tone held bite, he could feel the migraine he often got when dealing with difficult customers.

“But what if I wanna talk ta you?” She leaned in, tilting her head and examining the ghoul as her eyes wandered down every muscle and vein

“Talk. To. Ahzrukhal.” Charon eyes went back up, not wanting to repeat himself again. The woman let out a sigh, turning around to head towards the counter. Charon’s eyes went back to her, she wore a faded blue bodysuit with the arms tied around her waist, the numbers  _ 101 _ barely visible through the folds.  _ Strange, _ he thought, as his eyes strayed to her figure. She was plump and sturdy, muscles visible even with the baggy vault suit on, but with noticeable scars and tattoos on her exposed skin. She walked up to the counter, her conversation with Ahzrukhal was too hushed for Charon to pick up other than the fake laugh that the bartender released, but he could see her exchange to him a hefty bag of caps for two bottles of whiskey and a folded slip of paper. Practically skipping back to Charon, the woman held the folded paper in one hand, and the whiskeys in the other.

“Talk-” Charon began, but before he could finish, she waved the hand holding the paper in his face.

“Nuhuhuh, hold up. I’m yer new employer now.” Her face was bright, brown eyes matching her smiling face. “See? Contract! I’m yer new employer!” She held the paper closer to his face for a short moment again to emphasize her point before stuffing it into her pocket.

“Very well then, Boss. Excuse me, I have something to do before we move on.” Charon calmly made his way to Ahzrukhal, his body language had no way of communicating his next move.

“Ah, Charon, come to say goodbye to ol’ Ahzrukhal?” he opened his arms, the perfect target

“Yeah.” Charon mumbled as he drew his weapon and shot his previous employer. Twice, for good measure. He looked back at the woman, who was leaning against the counter just as she was moments ago, a whiskey in both of her hands. Much to his surprise, she seemed indifferent to what had just happened, normally people would freeze in shock, scream, or something along those lines.

“Ya done yet? Can we go?” she reached out and offered him the other beverage. 

“Yeah, lets go, Boss.” he said, taking the booze and pushing out the door.

.

They were just outside of Underworld, sitting behind the mammoth statue and nursing their drinks. “Ya name’s Charon, right?” the ghoul nodded in response, his eyes examined their surroundings, searching for any stray ferals that lurked on the outskirts in the shadows . “That’s ironic, Ninth Circle with a guy named Charon as its bouncer, ya got a Pa named Erebus too?” she let out a breath of amusement “Well, mine’s Alex, but everyone calls me somethin’ different, Vaultie, asshole, kid, lone.” she trailed off and took another sip. “So tell me a lil about ya self, Cherry.” The new nickname caused the stoic ghoul to freeze up, was his new employer  _ trying _ to get punched?

“What was that?” he growled, his already present migraine growing.

“Tell me about yourself! Y’know, lets get ta know each other better! You’ll be seein’ this pretty lil face a lot, so might as well know what her favorite color is, yeah?” she smiled, ignoring the clear annoyance in her companion’s tone. Charon tensed his jaw and subconsciously grinded his hind teeth, if she didn’t have that damned contract in her pocket, he’d have socked her in the eye by now.

“My name is Charon, nothing else.” He glared at her, but she just shrugged and drank another mouthful .

“You’re no fun.” She frowned and fiddled with the glass bottle resting in her hands. “It’s blue.” she muttered before taking another swig of her whiskey.

“What?” 

“My favourite colour is blue, y’know, like the sky. Ya know what the sky looks like, right Cherry?” she turned to meet the ghoul’s face, the shit-eating grin brought on by her own joke was met with Charon’s growing annoyance. “What about twenty questions? I can go first.” Charon groaned in response,  _ how could Ahzrukhal have sold his contract to some kid with a heavy cap-purse _ . The ghoul sighed, his facial expression restored to its usual blank. He always seemed indifferent to everything, even back at the bar, he remained calm through the whole ordeal.

“I'm your bodyguard, that's all you need to know.” He said, eyes sweeping the large mess of a room. He never had the opportunity to clear out the ferals outside Underworld, nor did he care to. No one would pay him to do it, and it'd just be a waste of time and bullets, not like they bothered anyone other than smoothskin travellers.

Alex huffed as she swirled around her drink, admiring the golden honey colour. “When did ya start yer, uh, yer job?” She was careful with her words, attempting to encourage her new companion to open up, but failed, causing Charon to tense up and turn his head to the side. “Oh.. sorry,” she traced the rim of the bottle with her fingers, “guess you'd wanna forget stuff like that.” She awkwardly chuckled a little, poorly attempting to fill the stiff silence. “Well, that's enough gettin’ ta know each other, why don't we get some shut eye.” She faked a yawn and chugged the last of her liquor. Charon grunted in response before finishing off his own bottle despite leaving it almost untouched previously. “Ooh, someone can hold their drink, man after my own heart, huh?” she giggled as her face reddened a little, not entirely from her beverage. Charon dismissed the comment, rising from his previous position of leaning against the base of the statue with his knees to his chest.

“I’m going off to do my rounds first, ferals might’ve picked up on your smell, you stink of smoothskin” He said, looking to her for approval. Alex nodded in response, watching him as he gathered his pack and gun, unconsciously studying his appearance intently. Staring at his strong arms covered in faded and new scars, exposed muscle, and various injuries that had accumulated over the years. She always had a thing for men with scars,  _ meant they were fun enough not to live a safe and stuffy life. _

“I'll be back soon. Get some rest, Boss.” Charon grumbled as he went off to do his rounds.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please give me feedback and suggestions!!

The two left the Museum of History. As they stepped outside, the woman stopped to talk to Willow, the ghoul who often hung out outside of the building to keep watch. “Hey tourist.” she greeted, stubbing out the cigarette she previously held between her thin lips “So what’s the story with the big guy?” 

“He’s my new friend, Charon!” The smoothskin held Charon’s wrist up, shaking it as if to say hello. The ghoul snatched his wrist back, grumbling as he often did. “He’s a little shy.” The two finished up their conversation, it was bland, mainly discussing the abundance of super mutants in the area, but nothing Charon didn’t know already, nor care for. 

“See ya ‘round, tourist” Willow waved as the woman started walking away, waving. Charon started to follow, but the female ghoul grabbed his arm “Take care of her, ya hear? I’ve heard about your situation and who ya’ve worked for, but just know, she ain't like that. She’s a good kid.” her words seemed genuine, but then again, anyone can be a convincing actor. 

“I’m her bodyguard, not her best friend.” he hissed, taking back his arm. _ What’s with people grabbing him like a bunch of leeches? _

“C’mon slowpoke!” The woman waved her arms and yelled, alerting the surrounding mutants. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” she started running, grabbing the assault rifle strapped to her back. 

“Go be a hero.” Willow smirked, turning her back to him and lighting a cigarette. Charon started shooting, catching up with the sprinting woman as they ducked for cover. 

  
  


“H-holy shit,” she huffed, panting as she searched around her pack for a bottle of water. They managed to kill a few super mutants, but had to make a run for it into the metro tunnels when their numbers increased. 

“I-It was not wise for you to run out into the middle with the fatman.” The ghoul said, struggling to regain his composure.

“Yeah, no shit, but I took down like six of ‘em” 

“Yes, because I was covering for you,” he hissed.

“Guess yer right.” Alex said, taking a swig from the dented plastic bottle. “Want some?” she offered, holding it out to him. Charon reached for it, but he wavered. 

“You’re okay with sharing with me?” He knew about the prejudice people held for ghouls, many were disgusted even looking at them, much less sharing a drink with one. He’d also rarely experienced generosity from his past employers, commonly only being allowed to eat when he’d been close to starvation and drink when he was at risk of dehydration. 

“I offered, didn’t I?” she gave him an encouraging smile as he hesitantly took a sip from the bottle, then a gulp as he’d realized how thirsty he was. 

“Thank you, Boss.” he wiped the edges of his mouth with his hand as he returned her water, watching her stuff it back into her severely disorganized pack. 

“Ya gotta cut that out, man” Alex said, swinging her bag back on her shoulders. “I ain’t nobody’s boss.”

“I did not mean to offend, would you prefer it if I called you by another name?” His response was robotic, feeling that he had already overstepped his boundaries by accepting the bottle of water, purified water no less. 

“Nah, ya gotta drop that formal talk too, I didn’t buy yer contract so I could drag ya ‘round like a slave or somethin’” she waved her hand side to side, as if she was physically dismissing the thought. “Yer a free man, buddy. Hell, y’could even leave me right now if ya wanted, I won’t mind. Here, take this then” the woman dug into her pocket, producing the weathered contract in her hands and handed it to him.

“My contract states that I cannot be self-employed, if you wish for me to leave your service, you may order me to go to another location or sell my contract.” he pushed back her hand. 

“Fuck the contract, man, s’just a piece a’ paper” she grumbled as she defeatedly stuffed it into her pocket again. “Well if yer too stubborn, I _ order _ ya t’act freely n’ shit like that. Speak yer mind, tell me if ya want anythin’, et cetera, y’know? Yer a person Charon, even if that crumpled thing says y’ain’t.” she shifted her weight to one leg and fiddled with her fingers, looking to the side to avoid eye contact, feigning interest in a dimly lit lightbulb. 

“I, uh, very well then… Alex” the words seemed foreign on his tongue, few of his previous employers have ever allowed him to freely speak, and none of them had ever tried to give his contract back to him.

“That’s better! But ya sound too awkward sayin’ my name, whatta ‘bout somethin’ else?” she put a finger on her pouting lips and tapped her foot in an exaggeration of thought. “Ah! I got it! Whatta ‘bout a nickname? I already gave ya one-”

“You’ve given me several in less than a day” he interrupted

“I’ve already given ya a bunch,” she corrected “so why don’t ya give me one in return! I can pull a bunch offa the top of my head, lets see… Gob calls me_ Lonnie _ cos I call ‘im _ Gobbie _ , Nova calls me kid, but we’re only like five years apart, Three Dog calls me _ The Lone Wanderer _ or _ Friend of the People, _ but that’s way too stuffy for my taste, Willow calls me _ Tourist _ an a buncha other ghouls in Underworld just call me smoothskin-”

“Smoothskin it is, then.” Charon interrupted, he didn’t want to bother with needless names, deciding that the common term _ smoothskin _ used by ghouls to refer to humans was enough to keep her satisfied with her insistence for something so childish.

“Oh, yeah I guess that works. Fer now at least, but ya gotta make somethin’ at least a lil more creative, yeah?” she tilted her head to the side, displaying a familiar smile on her face. Charon sighed another long sigh, his patience was growing thin, even if she was a little friendly, who knew how long that’ll last? 

“My services are only for combat purposes, I’m not obligated to assign you a dumb name just cause you’re an immature brat.” the ghoul furrowed his brow, glaring at the shorter woman who seemed almost deep in thought.

“Hey! That could work!” she placed a hand on her hip and the other pressed a finger to her chin. “ ‘s kinda cute too, didn’t know ya had it in ya, Cherry!”

“Had what in me” he grumbled.

“The nickname! Brat! ‘S cute, yeah? Makes ya kinda sound like Jericho, but ‘s nice.” She waved her hands as she talked, making motions that didn’t always have to do with her point, but Charon nearly found it charming. “It’s settled then! C’mon Chare, let’s go home, I’m tired as fuck.” and with that she pivoted her heel and made a motion with her hand for him to follow. He kept behind her a bit, keeping a watchful eye around their surroundings to make up for the lack of awareness she carried, how she made it this far was a mystery to him. She played the radio on her pip-boy loudly, blasting _ Let’s Go Sunning _ through the large tunnel of the metro, causing the melody to echo throughout and alerting everyone and thing of their presence. 

“Don’t you think it unwise to play music that loudly when we’re unsure if the tunnel is safe?” his tone was heavy with annoyance, he didn’t exactly plan to die so quickly due to his employers arrogance in such a short period of being in her service.

“Aw c’mon Chare, ya really don’t got much faith in me, huh. I cleared these tunnels ages ago, nothin’ but a few molerats n shit hang ‘round no more. An if we do meet somethin’ we shoot it, ‘s what yer good at, yeah? Beats hangin’ ‘round all day in the corner of the dingy ol’ bar.” she playfully punched his arm and picked up her pace, her unwilling bodyguard following a few feet away.

.

The rest of the trip to Megaton was fairly quiet, other than the brat’s occasional comments, and the air around them was filled with the music playing from her pip-boy. Even when they were clearing out a small group of raiders near the Super-Duper Mart, the music still played. _ Oh you _ _ know, I know, Everything's made for love! _ She bobbed her head side to side along with the rhythm, shooting the stray raider attempting to run for cover behind the register counter. “Why don’t you turn it off? It allows our enemies to know of our location.” he was tired of constantly needing to abandon his own target to cover her when someone thought they were stealthy enough to stab her in the back while she was presumably distracted when swaying her hips to follow the old tune. Though she always noticed the attacker before they got too close, the ghoul didn’t feel very confident leaving it up to what seemed to be luck to protect her. _ Even the luckiest man doesn’t leave anything to chance _was the motto of a former mercenary he once worked for. 

“Yer too paranoid fer yer own good, Chare-Bear! Live a lil! ‘S borin’ n’ loud with just the noises of a fight goin’ on, the dyin’ words of a raider ain’t as interestin’ as a good Gene Austin song.” she crouched down to rummage through the pockets of a nearby corpse, a female raider fashioning a pink mohawk with a scar running horizontally on her neck. The brat produced a small handful of caps, a pack of unopened cigarettes, and half a pack of shotgun shells. “Ya smoke? Here, take these.” she handed him the pack, shells, and roughly half the caps, but he just stared at her hand, his expression a cross between shock and confusion. “What’re ya waitin’ fer? I ain’t gettin’ any younger n’ I ain’t livin’ forever like you do” she grinned, taking his hand and placing the objects in it. 

“I -er- I don’t normally receive allowances or personal indulgences from employers,” he started “It is not necessary for me to carry these, I can take the shells if you wish, but are you sure about the other items?”

“I gave ‘em to ya, didn’t I? N’ ya did over half the work fer that fight, includin’ the disadvantage I gave us with the music I’m playin’, so ‘s only right ya get majority o’ the loot, yeah?” she pocketed her share of caps, and moved to another raider corpse a few feet away, picking up half a bottle of single malt scotch, .10mm ammo, another small handful of caps, and an inhaler of jet. “Ya don’t puff jet, yeah?” she asked, holding the inhaler in the air for him to see.

“No, drugs such as jet make it harder for me to protect you, especially if I start moving faster than time.” he stated matter-of-factly as he stuffed his share of caps in his pack. She paused, staring at him in disbelief, she couldn’t believe her ears. 

“Cherry… was that a joke?” she slowly processed it, then erupted in laughter “I ain’t know ya had it in ya! Was startin’ ta believe ya were born without a sense o’ humor!” she lightly punched hit him in the arm, earning her a grunt in response and the low and robotic mumbling of “Physical violence invalidates the contract.”

“Aw, let loose, Chare! Ya cracked a joke! Lemme bask in the glory of my progress, y’ain’t as uptight anymore.” she gave him a smile and a wink before continuing her raiding of the bodies, hiding her still bright and blushing face. It felt nice knowing that Charon trusted her enough to start acting more open with her, she wanted him to feel safe for once, despite only knowing him for a short while. Her dad always said that she was like her mother in that sense, wanting the best for others no matter how short she’d known them, _ but who cared what that piece of shit thought? His fault fer leavin’ in the first place. _

“Hey Chare, ya like sweets?” the brat carried several boxes of _ Fancy Lad Snack Cakes _ and _ Sugar Bombs _ in her arms, one of the snack cakes half eaten in her free hand as the rest was in her mouth. 

“Sugar will rot your teeth and they’re probably stale as fuck too.” he grabbed half of the boxes in an attempt to lighten her load, but he got the other half of the cake stuffed into his mouth. 

“Chew, we ain’t eaten yet.” she licked the stray icing off the side her finger as Charon reluctantly followed her instruction. It’d been years since he’d had sugar, he remembered having a bit of a sweet tooth before the war, however those days were long gone, such indulgences were denied by his past employers among other things.

“I was right, they’re stale as fuck,” he began, wiping a bit of icing off the corner of his mouth “but they’re still good.” 


End file.
